chalky wrote:If my kid is a little shit he will get a smack, law or no law.

And the law says that you will not go to jail for this. But you will face the possiblility of going to jail if you smack your kid around the head with a baseball bat - for being a little shit. This is a very loaded question.

happybaboon wrote:This smacking referendum is proof that our nation has reached the most heighty height of democracyness.

If the question in the referendum was changed so as not to be question-begging, would you support the referendum?

Yes. If the question did not predetermine that smacking is good parenting then I'd accept it as being the democratic right of the petitioners to ask the question. I would still personally think it was a waste of time and money because the current law clearly works and the Government has declared that they won't change the law according to the results of the referendum, but I would still support their right to ask the question. I don't think it's fair that they should be able to piss away taxpayer time and money by asking loaded questions though.

That's the classic fallacy behind the objections to this law. No one ever claimed less kids would die or get bashed, it's designed to stop people getting off with a "reasonable force" defence ONCE THEY'VE BEEN CHARGED OF A CRIME.